Anniversary (Of Sorts)

Brandon: Hello! Greetings! Welcome! I started Board Game Jungle on August 28, 2014. “But wait, Brandon, this is Spaghetti & Meeples!” Yes, yes it is. But it wasn’t always. I actually ran this site as Board Game Jungle for close to two years before changing the name due to its similarity to the name of another game blog. I am so glad I did. Spaghetti & Meeples is a much better name. Oh man, did I have a point? Yes!

It’s been three years since I started blogging about board games and table top games. It has been an interesting ride with highs and lows and side trips. I have been lucky enough to meet some incredible people and wonderful game designers. (BTW, I just realized this may read like a “good bye” post; it’s not)

One of my favorite things has been meeting indie and aspiring game designers. In this way I have been able to do a little bit here what I have done on my music blog Some Kind Of Muffin. I’ve also been lucky to meet and talk to those who run some of my favorite game stores and feature them here. All of this is not to mention my fellow bloggers, pod-casters, YouTubers etc. who are all a part of this community and the mission to share the hobby.

While running this site I have also been raising a family, attending graduate school, and now I am an elementary school teacher(substitute). There have definitely been lots of challenges keeping this going while doing all of that. I have tried to bring on additional contributors to alleviate some pressure on myself, but also in order to bring varied perspectives to Spaghetti & Meeples. The results have been mixed and not what I hoped. Overall though, that’s ok.

Making videos has been one of the more fun and creative aspects of running Spaghetti & Meeples and Board Game Jungle previously. Teaching, however, also uses much of that same creative energy. I currently have two video projects for the site in various states of recording, but I am not sure when they will be done. Just as an example, what winds up as a fun 5-10 minute video requires hours of time for lighting, recording, doing multiple takes, and then of course editing. I have been trying to put it off, but I do believe it is time to focus more on writing reviews and articles. The time and effort required for writing is far less than that required for doing videos.

But what does this all mean? It’s been three years since I’ve embarked on this journey and I’m in a reflective and sharing mood. I’m planning on continuing and am curious what that will look like. If you have been following us for awhile I hope you will stick around, and if you’re new to us please stay tuned. Let’s see what happens!